The European Commission today signed a grant agreement worth €4 million with a consortium of 14 European research institutes, associations and consulting companies — including 10 SMEs — for a three-year project known as "Civitas Capital".

Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas, responsible for transport, said: "This grant demonstrates the continued commitment of the EU to sustainable urban mobility. Civitas is one of the most important EU initiatives in this field, and will deliver tangible results. We need to develop further the urban dimension of our transport policy. To that end, the Commission will present a comprehensive urban mobility package later this year."

issue recommendations on future R&D priorities which the Commission will integrate in its 2014–2020 research programme;

develop training packages and organise placement and exchange of urban mobility professionals — around 500 professionals will be trained or offered a placement;

manage an activity fund of close to €500,000 to support the transfer of measures to other cities, allowing more cities to implement successful urban mobility measures;

create five additional national and regional networks and continue to manage the five existing ones — these networks increase the dissemination of know-how and best practice within their language group or geographical group;

develop a knowledge centre that will be available to all stakeholders through the Civitas website — a one-stop-shop where all material produced for and by Civitas will be available to all, for learning and reapplication.

Background

Civitas — an acronym for "cities, vitality, sustainability" — is funded by the EU's research framework programme to support cities in their efforts to innovate for more sustainable urban mobility. Since the start in 2002, Civitas has supported more than 700 demonstration activities in around 60 cities (within a total network of 200 cities who learn from those demonstration activities), with a total investment of more than €200 million from the EU. This leveraged an additional investment of close to €1 billion from local and regional authorities, and from private partners.

In 2009, the Commission adopted the Action Plan on Urban Mobility which included 20 actions to be carried out by 2012, the results of which are currently being evaluated. In 2011, the Commission published the Transport White Paper which sets two specific goals for urban mobility i.e. (1) phasing out the use of conventionally-fuelled vehicles in urban areas by 2050 and (2) achieving essentially CO2-free city logistics in major urban centres by 2030.